Connections
by Carson Court
Summary: Jaune Arc is attending Beacon with his friend Yang Xaio Long, adoptive sister Blake Belladonna, acquaintance/friend Weiss Schnee and his rival Cardin Winchester. Hormones rage as the four friends are put on the same team and explore the new found world of love. Rated M for playful swearing, possible violence or sexual situations.
1. New Places, Familiar Faces

**Hello, and Welcome to Connections! In this story there will be Empire (WeissxJaune), Lunar Eclipse (BlakexJaune) and Year of the Dragon (YangxJaune) and some Arkos. It's my own little take on RWBY where Jaune knows the four girls of Team RWBY either directly or by extension. I will be counting votes for the main ship to portray in the next chapter, so all of those four girls will be open. **

**NOTE: I won't do any RubyxJaune since in my mind, Ruby is still a kid and is not really mature enough for the content that this will contain, whether it be language or violence/gore or MAYBE a lemon or two, I don't know. **

**I will try to get past the canon stuff and I'm sorry about this but I have to set up the story when you are planning to change the teams. (MWAHAHAHAHA) **

**Anyways, don't forget to vote if you want to influence the next chapter, also any constructive criticism is appreciated cause I want to evolve as a writer to BECOME THE VERY BEST, LIKE NO ONE EVER WAS. (haha, I'm not above references in future chapters)  
**

**So drop me a follow if you liked it or a favorite if you_ really_ liked it and all of your support is appreciated!**

**Thanks,**

**Court**

* * *

As he stepped onto the dust plane he noticed three rather obvious things:

#1- That motion sickness medicine was certainly not going to hold up to the extended turbulence of this ride,

#2- He had the most boring weapon out of all of the incoming freshmen and couldn't help but wonder if they were compensating for something or that their teachers/mentors thought it would be perfectly reasonable to give guns and various incendiary devices to hormone laden teenagers, and

#3- Weiss Schnee's new album that she released under the alias, Casey Lee Williams was playing. He knew that it was her because he helped her with it under the false name of Jeff Williams.

He struggled to keep a passive face as he looked around for a seat where he could focus on not losing his lunch. He saw an open seat and sat down heavily, planting his face in his hands and closed his eyes. Five minutes passed before he heard a pair of heels clanking against the metal floor and a familiar icy draft of wind. He didn't look up.

"Hello, Weiss." He heard the all to familiar sigh/grunt of grudging admiration come from the heiress. He wasn't surprised; though she was generally a good person, her upbringing had caused her to be brash, quick to anger and ice cold to anyone.

"How did you know it was me?" He could see her face in his mind's eye from all the times she asked him to explain how he had been able to read her actions. A mixture of curiosity and anger with a bit of humility that he had put there when he explained to her how he was able to put a nail on her personality through just her upbringing. After that she began to respect both him and his work a bit more.

"Heels and your aura." He'd explained it to her before, though she didn't seem to learn that she emitted a chilly wind whenever she was annoyed. He always forgot to mention it to her when she wasn't annoyed and he never wanted to risk telling her when she was. He'd rather not get hypothermia in the middle of summer. The heels were another matter. She had gotten better at softening her footfalls, but it's hard to walk quietly on metal even without heels.

"Ah. Of course. Metal floors." She noted. Jaune looked up with a slight smile that Weiss returned for a second before catching herself. She looked away while Jaune chuckled, causing his stomach to bubble precariously. Grimacing, he held his stomach while Weiss raised an eyebrow in amusement. Jaune shot a glare at her as he staggered over to a trash can, heaving into it. He felt a small hand pat his back. He glanced back at a Weiss that was staring off at the news that was being projected on a window with a single hand on his back, patting it. Jaune smiled inwardly, he wasn't the only person who felt a bit off kilter from the new school.

"Um, Weiss?" She flinched and pulled her hand off of the blonde's back, sending him a wary look. "Whatcha doing?" He tried to use some comedy to lighten the odd tension between them. Her face softened briefly before reverting to the usual icy stare.

"I'm helping a friend." His eyebrows shot up.

"I'm your friend?" This earned him a glare and a whack on the back of the head.

"Of course you are, Lancelot. Anymore stupid questions?" He rolled his eyes at the nickname that she had given him during recording when they learned they were both attending Beacon. He mentioned something about living up to his grandfather's legacy and when she found out that to him, it meant becoming a knight, she came up with the name 'Lancelot' after a famous knight of legend from the first age of the world. It took five free, redeemable-at-any-time massage coupons for her to not put it in the digital booklet for the album. She still had all five, not having used any yet.

"Yes. Are we there yet?" They felt a jolt as the dust plane landed at Beacon's tarmac. Weiss shot him a grin, not even bothering to conceal it this time.

"It would seem so."

* * *

As he fell face first onto the soft grass of Beacon's front lawn, Weiss excused herself, saying that she needed to observe the transport of her luggage before rushing off. Jaune knew that her fighting style was based around dust, so he assumed that was ninety percent of her luggage. The blissful smell of grass wiped his mind of anything but a ground that didn't sway around. He heard a rustling of grass as someone or two someones walked up.

"Sup, Vomit Boy." He laughed, not looking up. Only one person still remembered that time in freshman year of Signal Academy, when he got extremely sick on the bus to go and see the Vystral tournament. Throughout the rest of the time at Signal, everyone else was to busy fawning over Cardin Winchester to notice Jaune Arc, except her and his sister/friend. When he got into Beacon, only two people weren't completely caught off guard. One was her. The other knew he would.

"Fuck you, Dragonfire." He grinned at the busty blonde who replied with the usual.

"You would." He stood up and gave her a high five. He finished the greeting.

"Anyone would." They collapsed into fits of giggles, getting a very bewildered look from the younger girl. When they recovered, they shared a quick hug.

"It's good to see you, Jaune."

"You too, Yang. If I could hazard a guess, I'd say that this is your little sister, Ruby."

"The same. Apparently, she ran into Mr. Torchwick and beat up a bunch of his goons. Ozpin and Goodwitch saw and offered her a place."

"If that's all it took to get into Beacon, I'd be graduated by now!" He smiled warmly at the cloaked girl, causing her to regain her voice, though not without a blush.

"H-hi. I'm Ruby." He stifled a giggle at the response and grinned again.

"Jaune Arc. Resident underdog, goofball and quite possibly the most interesting person at Beacon." Yang laughed.

"Sure, if you count knowing plenty of foreign languages interesting. And being a really good singer. And scoring the highest on the strategist test last year. And beating the hell out of Cardin during finals week. Huh, you actually are pretty interesting, Jaune." Jaune arched an eyebrow and looked at Yang with a reproachful glare. She stuck her tongue out at him. "Anyways, I've got to show Ruby around since I had time to research the school unlike her. Just wanted to say hello."

"Hello, Yang. Goodbye, Yang." She rolled her eyes as she waved back at him, dragging Ruby behind her.

* * *

The forest was completely silent, except for the occasional rustle from behind him. He pulled out his phone, dialing a number from his favorites list. He held the phone up to his ear, listening to the ringing when suddenly, a phone behind him rang. A girl's voice swore. He turned with a smug grin on his face. Blake Belladonna walked up with a slight flush on her face. He put his hands up in a playfully challenging manner.

"Come on, Blake. A mouse could hear you coming, with these rustling leaves." She punched him on the chest, harder than usual.

"It's not my fault, Mr. I-have-better-hearing-than-a-barn-owl. You were born with a genetic mutation, you know that?" A slight smile graced the face of the Faunus girl, her amber eyes glinting in the sunlight that filtered through the leafy treetops.

"And accept it. It's the only thing you can do with these sort of things." He held his arms out in a welcoming manner. She gladly slipped into his embrace, breathing in his familiar scent of freshly zested oranges. It brought back memories.

_A black haired Faunus girl was welcomed into a home that smelled of citrus fruit and vanilla, the only child having helped her out of a rally of the White Fang that had turned violent. The boy introduced her to his parents, who were very kind, despite her Faunus heritage. They gave her dinner and asked where she lived. She said that she didn't have a home and they offered her a place to stay. The boy, Jaune, was particularly stubborn. He didn't take no for an answer, and when she finally conceded, he whisked her away to his room which was chock full of books. He asked her if she could read, offering to teach her when she shook her head shyly. She stayed there, reading with Jaune, for weeks. Jaune's parents, Alice and Jonah, were obviously happy to have her there. They helped her with getting caught up in school so she could attend Second Grade with Jaune the following fall. School was scary for her. She put a bow over her ears the first day so the other kids wouldn't notice. Jaune had called her pretty, causing her to blush. The following Christmas, after much talk, the Arcs adopted her. She had never been so happy in her life. She and Jaune grew up together, sharing everything with each other. They went to the first dance at Signal together, since no one wanted to get close to 'Vomit Boy' as he became known as. They came home early and made Vanilla Orange Cake, a family tradition. Jonah and Alice weren't home, having gone on a vacation to the northern reaches of Vale. No one was there when Jaune dropped an orange and they both ducked down to grab it, clunking their heads together. No one was there when Jaune brushed a strand of hair behind her ear, telling her that she was beautiful. No one was there when they shared the surprisingly perfect cake on the couch, watching _Tangled_. No one was there when she pecked Jaune on the lips, bringing a flush to his face. No one was there when he pulled her in for another kiss, longer than the first. No was was there when they curled up under the same blanket, like usual, for they had been sleeping in the same bed for years, but this time her head rested on his chest and his arm was wrapped around her waist and they slept, waking up to each other._

"Someone's clingy today, huh?" Jaune's pleasant voice thrummed through his chest, waking her up to reality. She looked up, her eyes meeting his concerned blue ones.

"Sorry, just reminiscing."

"About what?"

"About us. When I met you. Your parents, school, getting adopted, the dance. About what might have happened if you never saw me in the crowd. We wouldn't be 'Us'." She felt him plant a kiss on her forehead, the warmth lingering for a moment after he pulled away.

"Well it happened, and amazingly enough, 'Us' is my favorite people and I wouldn't trade 'Us' for anything in the world. What ever we are." She understood what he meant. She wasn't entirely sure of their relationship at the moment either. But she knew that no matter what happened, she wanted to have Jaune Arc in her life in one way or another. She pecked him on the lips, tasting a bit of chocolate. She pulled back.

"Chocolate?" He shrugged.

"Weiss introduced me to it while we were working on the album. I enjoyed the milk chocolate, but dark is too bitter for me." Their phones dinged at the same time, drawing their attention. Blake read it out loud.

"'All students report to the auditorium immediately.' Alright, let's go. So how was Ms. Schnee?" She thinly veiled the dis-contempt in her voice. She was not a fan of the labor practices that the largest Dust company in Vale had with the Faunus working force. They started walking back to the school.

"Alright. She was a first class bitch at the beginning, but I made her eat her words when we did Red Like Roses Part II. Then she warmed up a bit. She's here, you know. I caught up with her on the plane."

"Hmm. Cool. You'll have to introduce me."

"Now, now Blake. She doesn't have anything to do with the company. That's her father."

"Hmph. Fine. So what's with the name 'Red Like Roses Part II'? It's a bit strange."

"Yeah, I know. Weiss glared at me when I asked so I dropped it." Blake rolled her eyes at the blonde next to her.

"So, an heiress who has most likely been pampered her whole life scares you? My, my, Jaune. What happened to your stoutness?"

"Hey! She's really scary, okay? You'll see, she gets really angry really quickly." Blake chuckled as they walked into the auditorium. Yang waved them over.

"Jaune! Blake! Over here!" Jaune was distracted by a passing person with ginger hair who flew past him. A black haired boy steadied him, apologizing before running after the girl. Blake grabbed his hand, ignoring the sudden lurch of her stomach, and pulled him over to the boisterous blonde and her little sister. Ruby started complaining about a something to do with an explosion while the others looked doubtful. Jaune felt a gust of cold air brush past him and froze, _Dear Gods, don't let that be who I think it is._ Sure, enough, Weiss Schnee burst out of nowhere and started yelling at the young and confused girl. The other three watched the display with varying levels of interest. Yang was listening closely, trying to determine if her sister's tale was true. ("You _actually _exploded.") Blake was amazed the Jaune was right and that this, short, petite heiress was actually quite terrifying. Jaune was just glad that he wasn't getting yelled at. Weiss took a breath and before she could start yelling again, Jaune decided to interfere.

"Weiss, it was an accident. I'm sure she didn't mean to." The snow haired girl looked up and her eyes widened.

"Oh, uh, Jaune. I was-" She was cut off by Professor Ozpin who stepped up to the microphone.

"I'll keep this brief. You have all traveled here today in search of knowledge. To hone your craft and acquire new skills. And when you have finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people. But I look amongst you and all I see is wasted energy, in need of purpose, direction. You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge will only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step." He turned around and walked off, letting an angry looking Professor Goodwitch step up to the now vacant microphone.

"You will gather in the ballroom tonight. Tomorrow you will take the first step."

* * *

"Jaune?"

"Hmm?" He was laying on his back, looking at a rather curious pattern on the Ballroom ceiling while Blake was reading her book.

"You were quite right about Weiss." He let out an endearing chuckle that Blake had fallen in love with over the years.

"Yeah. She's actually a good person but has trouble opening up. She had a rough childhood, with the targeting of Schnee family members and her father isolating her in Schnee Manor. She doesn't really know how to make friends. So don't be to hard on her. She's more lost than we are."

"We're pretty lost."

"But we know each other well. Weiss doesn't have that." As if on cue, Blake noticed the heiress stalking over to Ruby and Yang who were getting some water. She pointed over at the impending conflict and Jaune cringed. He gave the Faunus girl a quick scratch behind her ears, earning a purr in response.

"Gonna go head that off. Last thing we need is a pissed off Weiss." He hopped up and walked/jogged before Weiss could reach the now quarreling sisters.

* * *

She was going to give that clumsy girl a lesson. She could feel her hair which was now released from her ponytail bouncing against her back as she stalked towards the troublemaker and her sister. She was getting close to the unlikely sisters when she felt a rather large arm hook through hers and pull her away. She pulled against the unknown person, resulting in a chuckle from the boy.

"Weiss, try and not alienate yourself from our classmates just yet. It is literally the first day." The ever smiling face of Jaune Arc looked down at her, this time with small smirk on his lips. He pulled her into an empty classroom and sat her down. To both of their surprise, she followed with little resistance. Her heart was pounding. This felt like a scene from one of the romance novels that she secretly loved. The worst thing was that even her companion had features that would grace those suave gentlemen. He was handsome, no one could deny that, but also seemed unaware of his attractiveness. When he had insisted on taking her out the day that they finished the album, only she noticed the looks that other women gave him, their eyes lingering on his tall and lean frame, his ocean blue eyes and his perfectly formed lips. She caught herself looking at those same desired features as he stirred a steaming cup of something, probably tea. He looked up and saw her looking at him. He smiled and held out the cup.

"Here, it looks like you could use something to calm you down." She took the cup, letting the fine aroma of pure dark chocolate wash over her. She took a sip, wiggling in delight. She quickly drained the cup, letting the smooth and delightfully bitter dark chocolate wash into her stomach. She looked back at the blonde who was drinking his own cup of hot chocolate, albeit at a slower pace.

"Thanks Jaune. I'm just really stressed out right now." Jaune smiled at her with an arched eyebrow. "I-I mean, idiot! What were you thinking? I could have snapped and killed you or something!" She tried to put up her angry facade again, but failed when Jaune put his hand on her shoulder and patted it lightly.

"I was thinking that you needed a friend." She felt a blush as she looked up into his eyes.

"A-a friend?" She tried to glare at him but it was hard since her eyes has tears welling up in them. To her dismay, Jaune noticed her eyes that were now swimming with tears. He walked over and squatted in front of her, using a single thumb to wipe away the first that spilled over. She shuddered at the close contact between the two, closing her eyes and forcing the rest of the tears out. She felt a silky cloth wipe away her tears. She finally just let her heart spill out.

"I'm just so scared, Jaune. I don't know anybody and this place is huge and I don't want to get more attention just because I'm a Schnee and I just want friends. Like more than you cause you're not a girl. Do-do you understand?" She felt a large hand, still damp from the tears that she had spilled onto it, on her knee.

"Yes. I do. The only friends I had at Signal were Blake, who's basically my sister, and Yang, and our friendship is based off insulting each other and lewd jokes. I promise that I understand. I want to help you, okay?" She nodded, not wanting to trust her voice to not betray the myriad of emotions that were swirling inside.

"Weiss, I want you to tell me everything. I can and will help you but I am asking you to trust me, okay?" She nodded and hiccuped lightly.

"O-okay. I'm jealous of Yang and Ruby and Blake. They all had someone growing up with them, but not me. I was lucky to see people other than my direct family, let alone someone my age. A-and-" She made a gesture like a semicircle near her bosom. "-I feel immature compared to them. I don't have the social skills. I don't have the caring family. I don't have the-" She made the motion again. "I just feel... ignorable." She finally opened her eyes, looking into Jaune's, who made no effort to hide the worry in them. He slowly pulled her into a hug, giving her the chance to pull away, but she didn't, she just leaned in, resting her head against his shoulder while her hands laid against his chest. She felt him place a kiss on her snow white hair, bringing a flush to her pale cheeks. She was suddenly very glad that her face was buried in his chest. He spoke against her head, moving her hair.

"Weiss, you are not easy to ignore. You may not be as... horizontally gifted as the others, but you are still beautiful."

"But my scar-"

"Is a testament to your bravery. When I look at it I always wonder how you didn't lose your eye, but then I remember that you're a Schnee, and Schnees are strong." She felt his hand move down her back, following her hair, sending quivers through her body. He noticed and looked down at her. "Are you cold?"

"N-no. Yes. I-I don't know." He cocked an eyebrow at her in amused confusion. She pushed him unexpectedly, causing him to fall on his butt, rolling to lessen the impact. He rolled his eyes.

"Well, it looks like someone is feeling better, Snow Angel." She walked over and stood over him, holding her hand out. He grinned and grabbed it and pulled her down, so she was lying on him, his face less than an inch away from hers. She reached up and brushed the stray lock of golden hair away from his eye, smiling softly. She moved so her lips were so close that she felt his almost non-existent breaths on her face.

"Shut up Lancelot." She moved in, closing the distance but catching his cheek as he looked over in fear at something.

It was Ozpin. He gave them a smile smirk.

"Curfew's in ten minutes. Be in bed by then." He turned and slowly walked away. He turned slightly.

"Be glad that Professor Goodwitch wasn't the one the catch you."

* * *

**Please don't kill me, but this certainly was necessary for the plot.**

**On another note, I don't know who Jaune's Partner will be yet! So vote who, out of Blake, Weiss or Yang, who want it to be. This will shape almost the entire storyline so it's important that I leave it up to you, my (hopefully) faithful viewers!**

**Thanks for Reading,**

**Court**


	2. A Quick Jaunt in the Forest

**Hello! I am a horrible person, I do realize, but with Prom, School and generally becoming more comfortable with actually being social, I got some crazy writer's block.**

**First, I should really say thank you! You guys started blowing this story up and I was really amazed by the response, all of which was good! Thank You! **

**For the partner, I chose who I did because I felt that it would strengthen her bonds to Jaune, but the ship is still up for grabs. I dropped a really big reference later on in this chapter, along with Jaune suggesting Elaine as a nickname for his partner which I cannot remember what it was at all, so... Crazy Kudos if you can pick it up.**

**Don't forget to drop this story a follow if you like it and a favorite if you _really_ liked it.**

**Thank You again,**

**Court**

* * *

_25-2-14_, Jaune spun the lock on his locker with quick, sharp movements, pulling the locker open and pulling out his sword and shield.

Crocea Mors was just the same as it always was. Gleaming, cloaked with a deadly edge, and sharper and sturdier than a katana. It was a fearsome weapon, with the sword being unnaturally strong and light. His great grandfather had smithed it himself, using an interesting technology from the past age, something called 'carbon nanotubes'. This allowed the weapon to bend instead of breaking when it took a heavy blow from the side, unlike most weapons. However, the shield was much more modern. His ancestors had an uncanny ability to shatter their shields, resulting in plenty of sheathe/shield remakes. This one was built his father and, if he channeled a bit of his aura into it, turned into a gauntlet. Despite the damage that it dealt, he didn't like the transformation. He always thought it was a bit short-sighted to not have both a long range and short range weapon. But, he made do with what he had.

He heard Yang and Ruby arguing about something involving milk. Not wanting to get involved, he walked over to Weiss who was talking with a familiar looking red head. He waved at the Heiress who, again, surprisingly, waved back and beckoned him over.

"Jaune, this is Pyrrha Nikos, graduated at the top of her class at Sanctum, four time Vystral tournament winner and Pumpkin Pete's sponsor." Jaune smiled at the girl who looked a bit annoyed to have been introduced this way. She must have wanted to be normal for once in her life. He realized that Weiss was still talking. "...Arc, top of his class at Signal, highest ever scorer on The Ulysses end of term tactical exam, written and practical, and the owner of the most powerful aura I've ever seen."

He couldn't help be a bit embarrassed. He only told her that he had scored so high on the world wide tests to get her to stop lecturing him on various topics with swordplay. Pyrrha looked a bit happier, she knew that he was another big shot who wanted to just be normal.

"If you don't mind me asking, what was you written score?"

"I-uh, 112%."

"Results of the practical?"

"All hostages released without injury and all kidnappers in custody."

"...Wow."

"Thanks, I don't like talking about it. It makes me feel…"

"-important. Too, important."

"Exactly." They shared a quick smile as the intercom announced, _ALL FIRST YEAR STUDENTS PROCEED TO THE LAUNCH ZONE._

"Launch Zone?"

"That doesn't sound good."

* * *

As he slammed into the tree branch, his shield sprung open, tumbling to the ground. He groaned as he slipped of the branch and fell onto the grassy ground flat on his back. He heard a rustling behind him and scrambled to pick up his fallen shield. He vaulted over it, slipping his hand through the arm guard and rolling to a kneeling position. He readied his arm as a familiar face popped out of the bush.

"Jaune?" The familiar voice of a certain Weiss Schnee wound into his ears, her usually annoyed eyes surprisingly bright. She had a few twigs caught in her usually straight snow white hair, giving it the illusion of a waterfall that got several trees stuck in it but the water just flowed around it. She walked up to him and stood in front of him, crossing her arms.

"Hey Snow Angel."

"No."

"No what?"

"Not Snow Angel."

"Oh. ...Ice Princess?"

"Nope."

"Elaine?"

"_Elaine?__"_

"No clue."

"How about just Weiss?"

"Nope. If got a nickname, you need one. I'll think on it. Let's go partner." He held out his hand. Weiss took it and pulled him into a crushing hug. She looked up at him.

"Weiss?"

"Hmm?"

"What are you doing?"

"I'm not entirely sure yet."

"We should get moving."

* * *

He groaned as a flash of yellow shot towards him as he clung to the feet of the Nevermore. He heard the usually boisterous voice of Yang yell out.

"Jaune! Hold on!"

"WHAT DO THINK I'M DOING, YOU DAFT DRAGON?"

"...Geez, sorry." The Nevermore shuddered from the impacts of Yang's punches causing Jaune to slip off slowly.

"Shit. This is bad." He swung his right hand which had been grasping his sword tightly, up at the bird wildly. It stuck in it's breast and the Nevermore went limp, dropping from the sky.

"This is really bad." He pulled on his sword, failing to remove it from the breast of the Nevermore.

"Uh-oh." He scrambled up the giant raven, but his hands slipped off the oily feathers and he fell, colliding with the hard talons of the Nevermore. As his head met the talon, everything went dark.

Weiss paled as she saw her friend plummeting towards the ground, limp as a doll. She stopped thinking and just acted, her body taking over. She shot towards what she believed to be the landing zone, pulling out Myrnecaster. Deaf ears listened as her mouth yelled words branded in her mind for as long as she could remember, causing a light blue net to erupt from her sword. Everything stopped as Jaune plummeted into the seemingly intangible net. The boy landed safely in the net as the Nevermore slammed into the ground behind him. The gathered initiates watched in awe as they saw the Arc family heirloom hilt deep in the chest of bird.

The moment of silence was broken as an orange haired girl slammed an Ursa upside the jaw so hard that the bear-like creature landed at the center of the clearing. She bounded over to Weiss, Yang and Blake who were all crowded around the boy. She was soon joined by an eastern boy who introduced himself as Ren and the boisterous girl as Nora. He was closely followed by Ruby and her partner, Pyrrha.

"HI!" She screamed, causing the rest to jump. As the three recovered from the mini heart attacks from the sudden appearance of the girl now known as Nora, three more figures emerged from the treeline and gawked at the dead Grimm and the now stirring boy on the ground. Weiss noticed and immediately pulled out a dust capsule. She snapped it like a glow stick, breaking the crystal inside and the release of energy caused the container to expend to the size of a Nalgene with ice cold water inside. She raised it to Jaune's lips and he sipped it, appreciating the relief on his dry throat.

"Hey, can I have a drink?" Yang asked. Weiss missed the mischievous smile on her lips as she was still facing Jaune and held out the bottle. Before she could grab it, Jaune sat up and bellowed "NO!". Yang pouted briefly before giving the now fully conscious boy a grudging smile. He silently asked for the bottle from Weiss who couldn't help but feel her heart rate increase ever so slightly as his hand gently grazed hers.

"You're smart Vomit Boy. Too smart."

"Well, it's not like that's a new trick. I've fallen for it too many times." Yang held her hand out and Jaune grabbed it and pulled himself up with the help of the firebrand. They bumped fists and quickly hugged, sharing a laugh.

For the first time, the group looked around and noticed the crumbling ruins of an ancient temple on the other side of the clearing. When they arrived, they noticed the waist high columns that were mostly empty, apart from four golden figures, one for each pair. Ruby and Nora zoomed ahead and grabbed their choice in figures, the horses and ran off happily. Weiss and Jaune walked up to one of the other two columns. Both held the same piece.

"Is that-" Weiss started before Jaune answered the question that she was going to ask.

"A rook."

"Then the pieces that Nora and Ruby grabbed are knights." Jaune silently bobbed his head in agreement as he counted the total number of pillars.

"Twelve pillars, twelve pairs, six teams. Gold and, I'd guess, silver rooks, bishops and knights."

"Why not kings or queens?"

"Only one on each side; the rest, apart from the pawns, have pairs on each side."

"Mhhh." Weiss hated to admit that he reached the end point before she did, but he was surprisingly smart at times. He watched as she picked up the remaining rook, the other having been picked up by Blake and Yang.

"It's not very heavy... Gold leaf." She wouldn't let him have the last laugh. She handed the statue to Jaune, who weighed it in his hand. He nodded.

"Yep. Contents?" He tossed it to Weiss, who caught it deftly. She shook it briefly, before tossing it back.

"Beads." He smiled and grinned at her.

"Yep."

* * *

The trip back to the cliff was rather uneventful. They stayed in a pack and made enough noise to warn off any straggling Grimm. Soon, they had arrived at the place that they had been launch from. Jaune turned and looked over the cliff. Weiss walked up beside him and he nodded her on, giving her hand a quick squeeze and a half-smile. She joined the rest the group who walked back to Beacon. He stood peacefully, watching the horizon. He needed his alone time every day. He was naturally an introvert, so he needed some quiet to make sure he didn't go insane. What could he say? Everyone has a quirk. Like Yang, who has the slightly endearing habit of waiting for him to finish with his self prescribed medicine to his social illness that she is convinced that he has. Which happened to be ending in 3, 2, 1 and...

"Time's up!" She bounded up to him.

"Hey Yang. What's up?" He'd grown used to the intrusion and she knew to not disturb him during his quiet time. School was boring and hard when he was ignoring her. She punched him directly in the chest, making him groan.

"That was for calling me a 'daft dragon'." Jaune rolled his eyes and crossed his arms.

"Well, telling me to hold on to a giant bird 100 feet in the air is kind of pointless. Anyone would hold on in that situation."

"...Stop making sense, Vomit Boy." She moved to stand next to him, looking over the cliff at the emerald forest below.

"I have that problem. Along with my introversion, I'm surprised you can even put up with me, let alone hang around with me willingly." Yang bumped him with her shoulder.

"Diversity is the spice of life. Plus it makes you more human. It hard for someone to like a perfect person. You human beings are much easier to love." Jaune cracked an easy grin.

"So what? Your not one of us?" Yang deadpanned.

"That's what you got out of that?" Jaune glanced at Yang, cowering under her crimson glare.

"I, uh, ah of course not! You said that human beings are easier to lo-" He suddenly froze, his eyes widening. Yang smiled softly.

"So, I do, y'know. Well maybe not _love_ love, but I'd like to try it if you wouldn't be opposed..." Yang suddenly blushed heavily and lost her nerve, trailing off and looking at the ground. She felt Jaune pull her into a hug and she grabbed his shirt, pulling herself even deeper into the hug. She felt him lightly kiss her head and smiled.

"That sounds great. Just one note, Weiss, I think, likes me also and I'm not entirely sure how I feel about her or you and Blake in comparison. And there's the whole Blake situation." She looked up into his apprehensive eyes and smiled encouragingly.

"We'll figure it out, okay. Plus I wouldn't be opposed to some lesbo action." She grinned wickedly. Jaune couldn't help but chuckle as he cringed.

"Gods Yang. That's just wrong."

"What if they're into it? Would it still be wrong?"

"...Dammit." They shared a quick grin, pressing their foreheads together.

"So... Are you gonna kiss me or what?" Jaune chuckled.

"Or what." Yang flinched and turned away in a huff. Jaune caught up with her in less than two steps and spun her about, one hand caressing her cheek. "I'm not that cruel Yang." Suddenly his lips found hers, burning both of them to the core. His free hand fell upon her other cheek as she pulled him closer with her hands which were firmly attached to his shirt front. She felt his thumbs tracing circles on her cheeks as they came together in perfect harmony. They slowly broke apart, Yang pressing her head into his chest again.

"I wouldn't mind sharing if you kissed me like that every time."

"Let's head back."

* * *

When they finally returned to the campus of Beacon, they joined their teammates who were so distracted by a rather comedic scene involving a green haired professor who was rapidly telling off a tan skinned boy with untamed curls who was grinning fiercely that they didn't notice their absence. They watched as the boy just laughed as the teacher, who actually seemed to be actually having an animated conversation with the boy, spoke.

"Of course Professor Ooblek. The input to output ratio of dust reactions can be easily altered if you know your weapon well enough."

"Outstanding! After you are assigned to your team, I would be quite happy to meet with you more about this. Though, to be honest you should be speaking to Professor Goodwitch. This is her area of expertise."

"Great! I should be going, my partner is a bit temperamental and would be agitated with me if I didn't show up on time." The two shook hands, briefly as the man bade the striking boy farewell.

"It was absolutely delightful to meet you, Leon."

"You as well, Professor Ooblek." He noticed the group assembled and, more notably, Weiss. He waved at her enthusiastically which she returned with a fraction of happiness. "Hey! Ice Princess! I gotta go, but Annabelle, Renya and Pipes are all here too! We'll catch up later?" He didn't wait for an answer, but ran off.

"DON'T CALL ME THAT! Do you think he heard me?" She looked at Jaune, not even a bit surprised that he was there. He shrugged.

"That irritating fuck has a point. We should get ready too."

* * *

**So that's a thing. I certainly hope you got the reference since I plan on the Teams being reoccurring characters. So I got some Empire and some Year of the Dragon in that chapter, but if you are annoyed by the lack of actual Empire and any Lunar Eclipse, the next will greatly make up for it! Personally, I'm not really feeling the Year of the Dragon in this, but I really don't know. If you've read any of my other stuff, you probably noticed the difference between those kisses and this one. **

**I have a request of you all. Please come up with some ideas for a Team with (A or C), (P or J), (P or M) and (L or V) in any order really, and (J or G), (R or R), (F or Z) and (H or L). Again you all should know these references since it is really popular right now and has the third most fics in the book section. These are not the characters verbatim but my take on them for the purpose of having lots of shanagans. **

**Thank You all for putting up with my extremely long hiatus, but I had to write essays on Crime and Punishment, The Assault (the book), and Chronicle of a Death Foretold for my LA class.**

**I probably won't update again this month since exams are upon us and I'm real stressed. But when summer rolls around, I will try to update more regularly, but no promises. :(**

**Thanks again,**

**Court**


	3. A Game of Chess

**HEY! I UPDATED DURING FINALS! LOVE ME. ...Sorry, I had to get that out of my system. Anyways, here's the next chapter in Connections. I really hope I delivered on the Empire and Lunar Eclipse on this chapter. Hope you like it!**

**Don't for get to drop it a follow if you liked it and a favorite if you _really_ liked it!**

**Thanks,**

**Court**

* * *

Jaune couldn't believe how surprisingly comfortable the uniforms were- at least the boys uniforms, he couldn't speak for the girls next to him- though they weren't fidgeting at all. He subconsciously fixed his tie as Weiss, his partner, looked him over. He wasn't completely inexperienced with dressing up, but he always differed to Weiss since this was kind of her entire life; balls, charity dinners (considerably less of those), and other social events that she was expected to represent the house of Schnee. That was where he first met her, at a class reunion of the class from 25 years ago from the very school they just started. Turns out that Mr. Schnee was the technician of the team that his dad was the leader of, JSTC or Justice. He was Weiss were seated together since they were the same age. The night ended with a _very_ memorable fight in which Jaune's arm was frozen in a block of ice after he mistakenly attempted to brush her bangs out of her eyes. They also somehow had managed to get along well enough to sign a deal to produce an album together. A flick on his nose brought him back to the present.

"Jaune!" He jumped. Weiss Schnee, with a very similar expression on her face to the one she had when she froze his arm. He focused on her eyes, determined to not let his eyes wander to her lips, which looked far more kissable than either Yang's or Blake's. (Though he wouldn't admit it out loud, he didn't want to re-experience one of Yang's punches, let alone experience one while she was in a rage.) He shook his head and looked at his partner who was having trouble keeping her eyes on his.

"Hmm?"

"Wake up, sleeping beauty. We're up next." He flashed a quick grin.

"Great! Who do you think that was will we partnered with?" She shrugged.

"Pyrrha would be a great team-mate, but I don't want to work with that insolent little-"

"Weiss! Ruby's not that bad. She's just... energetic." She snorted and moved on.

"You seemed to be close with that Blonde. Yang, wasn't it?" His mind quickly recalled his previous encounter with the firebrand and he immediately felt guilty, though he wasn't sure why.

"Yeah, and her partner, Blake, is my adoptive sister."

"The ex-White Fang member?"

"You know?"

"You aren't exactly James Bond when it comes to keeping secrets."

"And?"

"And what?"

"You know what. How do you feel about Blake?"

"She was a member back when they were still peaceful, so I don't mind."

"Wow." Her voice dropped a few degrees.

"What does that mean?"

"I-uh..." Their Scrolls beeped urgently. Weiss swore and grabbed Jaune, pulling him after her in her rush. Jaune dutifully jogged along behind her, amazed.

* * *

"Jaune Arc, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna, and Yang Xaio Long. The four of you will make up team JWBY. Your leader will be Jaune Arc." The four budding huntresses and hunter walked onto the stage, completely focused, well mostly. Jaune noticed Weiss clench her fists. He briefly weighed his options and deduced that Weiss would at least wait until they were off the stage before killing him before grabbing her hand. She stole a glance at him and he responded with a quick squeeze. She maneuvered her fingers so they were laced with his and squeezed back.

After they walked off the stage a russet haired boy stopped them.

"So you were _actually_ telling truth Jauney-Boy." Instead of responding to the treat, Jaune just laughed. Yang started forward.

"Of course he did you bird-"

"Yang." Jaune cut her off, a hand on her shoulder. He turned to the boy.

"Well, of course. I did place first school - scratch that - world wide on the Ulysses Test. I also seem to remember beating your sorry ass in Practical Combat last year too. If we should be surprised about the presence of anyone here, it should be you. Now if you wouldn't mind, I kind of killed a Nevermore today and I'm sore."

He dismissed the boy with a wave of his hand and brushed by him. Yang lingered behind. She jabbed him in the solar plexus, causing him to bend forward in pain. She grabbed the front of his uniform and sent terrified quivers through his spine with her glare.

"If I hear so much as a hint of you trying to mess with Jaune in any way, you're going to beg for just a black eye when I'm done with you. Got it?" He grunted in both pain and understanding as he fell on his face. Yang bounced after her team, catching Jaune's explanation to Weiss.

"Well, he was the popular kid. He had everything; looks, a good fighter, good enough to not matter that he's a complete dumbass in everything else. All I had was a mind for strategy and an unfortunate nickname. Needless to say, he hates that I beat him at his game and that I am better at strategy than I am at actual fighting. He's not even that bad of a guy. Sure I hated him back at Signal, but as I improved, I noticed that he's not too bad. At least for someone who reads three years under the national average." He shrugged, as if to say, _We'll see._

They arrived at their room, scanning their scrolls for identification reasons. They took some time setting up the room, Weiss with an elegant painting, Yang with a poster of the 'Achieve Men', Blake with a bookshelf and her books and Jaune with a fine chess board and an old board game called 'War' that had been refurbished, so the cheap, plastic pieces were now made of marble, rose quartz, onyx, jade, crystal and an odd metal that had the same shine as Crocea Mors. When Blake asked, for she had never seen the game in it's freshly refurbished condition, Jaune confirmed that it was, in fact, Carbon Fiber.

"There was some left over from the last blade that my father smithed before I left, so..." While Blake fawned over the board game, Weiss inspected the chess board and Yang just looked completely unamused. She hopped up and left the room with a quick wave and a blown kiss to each of them. Blake looked torn for a minute but got up and followed Yang, muttering something about her breaking a chandelier. Weiss was suddenly extremely aware that she was alone in the room with Jaune, who was setting his supplies on his desk. She cleared her throat, causing Jaune to look over slightly. She motioned to the board and he grinned, a twinkle in his eyes.

"I want to see how good you actually are. I'm a pretty good player myself." He chuckled in response, leaning in closer.

"How about a bet? I win, you give me a massage or one of the vouchers, you win you get another one." She couldn't help but give him a small smile in return.

"You're so on, Lancelot."

"You take white. Lady's privilege." She nodded in thanks and they set up the board.

Weiss moved her pawn, watching as Jaune responded to her every move in less than ten seconds. His urgency made her nervous and next thing she knew, he quietly declared checkmate. She looked on in disbelief but he was right. His pieces were positioned so that she could not move her king anywhere. She looked up to see him looking at her with admiration. She felt her cheeks flare at the raw emotion that was directed at her and cursed herself.

"You're really good." She let out a sound of disbelief.

"No way, you checkmated me in around 15 moves."

"Exactly. The most it's taken to win before was ten." He waggled his eyebrows at her playfully. "So, what's it gonna be?" She sighed.

"Fine, get on your bed." He smiled and obediently hopped onto his bed, tugging off his shirt. Thankfully for the flustered heiress, he lay down on his belly so he didn't see her flaming cheeks. She tentatively reached out and touched his back, noticing the goosebumps that her light touch caused to erupt on his back. She got bolder, mimicking her past experiences with masseuses, and started to dig her heels into what she hoped were the tight spots on his back. He didn't make a noise, but she could barely notice that he was moaning into his pillow, trying to conceal it.

When she started to work on his neck, he suddenly flipped over, grabbing her elbows so she didn't slip off the bed. She couldn't help but notice his ragged breathing and his gaze flicking to her lips. Suddenly, his hand found the back of her neck and he brought her forward, meeting her lips with his. She didn't even consider pulling away. She automatically wound her hands into his unbearably soft hair as his free hand landed on her waist. She could feel his hand on the back of her neck, his fingers weaving into her hair. Her brain stopped thinking and let her body take over. She bit his bottom lip, and he opened, letting her in. It was electric. Sparks flew through them, stinging their lips. They broke apart and Jaune looked panicked.

"I-I'm sorry Weiss! I just got carried away! Plea-" She silenced him with a quick peck on the lips.

"I'm not mad. If I'm mad about anything it's that you didn't kiss me last night." Jaune cocked his head curiously.

"Oh that, I'm just glad that Ozpin found us, not Goodwich." Weiss giggled and immediately brought her hand up to her mouth in embarrassment, causing Jaune to laugh, a deep, booming sound that made Weiss smile.

"It's getting late. I'm going to get ready for bed." She grabbed her pajamas and walked into the bathroom, closing the door behind her.

"What, I don't get the bathroom?" Jaune pulled his sweats out of his bags and quickly changed.

"Nope. I'm pretty sure that Yang and Blake would rather walk in on you than on me. What with that tattoo and all."

"Why did I even tell you that?"

"Not a clue." She opened the door, wearing a dark black nightgown. Jaune sent an annoyed look at her and she just stuck her tongue out.

"Well what about yours?" Weiss froze, her back to Jaune. She felt his gaze on her back, where her collarbone connected to her slender neck.

"I swear to gods, if you-"

"Just want you to know that I'm not the only one with a rebellious streak. I'll keep it secret if you do."

"Deal."

"How can you tell that I have one?"

"Your collar's about half an inch to low. No one else would notice it."

"Hmph." She sat down on her bed which was uncomfortably close to the others'. She noticed that Jaune was making rudimentary measurements of his bed posts.

"What are you doing?" He glanced at her.

"Bunkbeds. Most efficient use of space, wouldn't you agree? Plus I seem to recall that someone has always wanted them." He winked at her. She was touched by his memory.

"Want some help?"

* * *

By the time that they had finished the bunkbeds, Blake and Yang had returned and claimed their beds, Blake on top, Yang on the bottom. Jaune was on the top bunk and Weiss was on the bottom on their bunkbed. The second that they finished, Yang changed in the main room, earning a few yells from her teammates, and flopped into bed. The rest of them got into bed and fell asleep within the next ten minutes, apart from Blake who couldn't get comfortable. With the stealth that befitted her race, she dropped onto the floor and climbed into Jaune's bunk. She tugged on his earlobe, an old signal from their childhood, causing him to wake up and make room for her. They curled up in their usual position, Blake's head tucked under his chin and their legs tangled. She could barely make out his whisper when it was exhaled against her forehead.

"Can't sleep?"

"No."

"Wanna talk about it?"

"Nothing apart from the different setting."

"Okay. You'll get used to it."

"Night."

"Good night." They slipped out of consciousness, safe in each other's arms.

* * *

**SO. Some of you got the references and I'm proud of you! Of course the PJO reference was (hopefully :0) pretty obvious, but the Ulysseus Test is in honor of Ulysseus S. Grant though some of you astutely pointed out that that is the Roman name for Odysseus. And don't worry, the PJO crew will play a very minor role, mainly for the role of troublemaking. Sorry this is a short chapter, but I liked the ending with a bit Lunar, so yeah. The chessboard and game of war just seemed appropriate for Jaune and his strategic mind.**

**Now. I'm leaning towards Empire for this fic, though I am not completely dead set on it. It's just more interesting writing from Weiss's view than Yang or Blake's. But again it's still up in the air, but more on the downward arc. Does that make sense?**

**Thanks for reading,**

**Court**


	4. Classes and Questions

**I'm not dead! I am pretty sorry, but not super sorry. But that's just because I was in Alaska for awhile and that was dank and stuff. Anyways, this chapter was a bitch to write at certain points and at other times it just flowed perfectly for me and I got lots done. I'll keep this short, but there is discussion of sex in this chapter. I'm pretty sure that since you all know you are reading an M rated fic that you won't be offended, but if you are... you don't have to read it. Simple much? Anyways, here it is, Chapter Four of Connections!**

**If you liked it drop it a follow and if you _really _liked it drop it a fav! And reviews are always appreciated!**

**Thanks, **

**Court**

* * *

When Jaune woke up, he was quite alone. Blake seemed to be in her bed, which he couldn't help but feel like was for the best. It would have been awkward to explain to the others. He turned around to the center of the room, he couldn't relax looking at a large area. He was met with a pair of lilac eyes less than an inch from his own. He jumped.

"Shit!"

Yang chuckled, "I forgot how cute you are when you're startled, Vomit Boy."

He sat up and Yang jumped up to sit next to him, their feet dangling over Weiss's empty bed. "Well thanks."

"So..." He didn't have to ask what she was talking about. She wanted an answer to her question. Jaune sighed. _I really didn't need this kind of stuff this early into the school year._ He couldn't get away from the question though.

"I, I think that we should get used to school before we jump into anything like this... I'm sorry." Yang shrugged.

"Did you tell Weiss the same thing?" He groaned.

"Yang-"

"I've got to admit that I'm a bit jealous, but I'm not going to kill either of you. Yet." She let the threat linger in the air. He could hear the shower going, presumably the girl in question getting ready for the day.

"How could you tell?"

"You've got strong fingertips. Weiss was nursing little bruises along her waist and I don't think she has even talked to another boy since we got here. Maybe Ren, but Nora has already got dibs."

"You're smarter than you let on Miss Xaio Long."

"Guilty. Now you should get ready. Classes start in 30 minutes." With that she brushed her lips lightly along Jaune's cheek and jumped down, thumping loudly on the wooden floor.

Jaune groaned and rubbed his eyes vigorously with the balls of his hands. He faintly heard something that sounded like 'breakfast' and heard a door slam. He opened his eyes to his freshly washed partner looking at him. He slipped off the bed and went to take a shower when Weiss stopped him.

"Yang said you had something to tell me?" She walked so close that he could see the slight silver diamonds in her irises and he was inhaling an intoxicating combination of chocolate, from her daily mug of cocoa, and vanilla, most likely from her perfume. Suddenly, they were kissing. The sparks had ignited something deeper within, warming them to the core. She pulled away to line his jaw with butterfly kisses and he took the opportunity.

"We should-" His breath hitched as she nipped at his neck and responded with a bite of his own on her collarbone.

She was panting, "What? Wait to get used to school to get involved romantically?" He reluctantly pulled away.

"Sadly." She pouted briefly, before looking up with a gleam in her eyes.

"We don't have to be dating. We can just ki-" Jaune slammed his lips back into hers, ecstatically grabbing her waist and squeezing tightly. She gasped and he pulled away.

"Sorry. Bruises." He caught her expression and hastily added, "Yang saw them." She nodded and drew him in again. Reluctantly, Jaune extracted himself and walked off to the bathroom. He grinned back at her. "You can join me if you want."

"I already sh-" She realized what he meant and rolled her eyes. Jaune laughed and closed the door.

* * *

When he finally emerged from the bathroom, he had five minutes until class. _I guess that means no breakfast. _He grabbed his textbooks and set off from Grimm Studies with a grumbling stomach. When he finally arrived at the class, he slipped into the only open seat, between Blake and the red-head that Weiss introduced him to the day of initiation. Which happened to be yesterday. Wow. He exchanged a quick smile with Blake and she slipped him a bundle of food with a smirk that he was all too familiar with.

"I love you so much." He muttered as he tore into the bundle. Pyrrha-that's what her name was-looked at them with surprise. Sneaking a quick look at Port who was going on a long monologue about beowolves from the sound of it, Pyrrha whispered to the two.

"How long have you been dating?" They had heard this question enough that they didn't spit out what they were eating or drinking at the time, though Jaune started choking with surprise. Blake let out a small chuckle and pounded Jaune on the back, clearing his throat. He coughed loudly, causing a few heads to turn their way. He waved them off and turned to Pyrrha, whose emerald green eyes were alight with amusement. Jaune smiled sheepishly.

"We're _adoptive_ siblings. So...?" He looked at the cat faunus who looked equally perplexed with their relationship status.

"I trust him with my life."

"And I trust her with mine." Pyrrha smiled as Blake took Jaune's hand and squeezed it, causing him to smile back at her and give her a quick one armed hug.

"I sense there's a bit of a story behind this." She gestured vaguely to the two. Blake and Jaune shared a bemused look.

"You could certainly say that." Blake chuckled.

"We have ti- Why are we raising our hands?" Pyrrha looked at the front of the classroom, where an irate Weiss had her hand straight in the air. Port pointed at her.

"Very well Ms. Schnee. Go prepare and when you return, you will face the mysterious beast!" Weiss stood and walked towards the door but stopped to talk with the three at the back of the classroom.

"Thoughts?" She pointed at the crate that Port had pulled out of a large utility cabinet. Jaune shrugged apologetically.

"I'm a tactical genius. If I knew biology and all this other stuff, I'd be a general in the army right now." He chuckled but Blake recognized the off timing of his joke that implied it wasn't really a joke. He'd done that when they accidentally broke the couch when they were 16. She had to ask him what that was about later. Weiss rolled her eyes and looked desperately at the other two. Blake shrugged.

"If I had to give a guess, it'd be a boarbatusk." Pyrrha nodded and grinned at the faunus.

"Exactly, the crate has the correct dimensions for that or a beowolf and it would be next to useless to have a one on one spar with a beowolf since the only threat they have is when they are in packs. Plus it smells like a boarbatusk." She wrinkled her nose at the musky smell. The rest of the group gagged at the brutal smell. Weiss ran out and Jaune followed her five minutes later, excusing himself.

He finally caught up to her as she exited their room. "Weiss!" She didn't face him.

"What!" It was more of a statement than a question. He caught her as she tried to storm past him.

"Whoa there Ice Princess. Talk to me." She jutted her chin out in defiance.

"Why? And don't call me that." Jaune felt a wave of protectiveness.

"Because I'm your partner! It's my job to make sure you're in tip top shape in _and_ out of battle. Now talk." Weiss glared at him and tried to push his hands away, but found herself pushed against the wall before she could get very far.

"Let me go." She was quivering in anger.

"Talk to me first."

"Let. Me. Go."

"Talk to me."

"Jaune."

"Weiss."

"I need to get to class."

"Then talk to me."

"Dammit! Fine."

"I'm going to let you go. Don't run or you won't get one of these for awhile."

"One of what?" He kissed her, pushing her against the wall. She was about to deepen the kiss when he pulled away, his hands pinning her to the wall at arms length. She whimpered, her voice quivering.

"Fine." He let her go and she leapt at him but before she could find his lips, he stopped her.

"Weiss!" He warned. She punched him in the chest and gave up.

"Dammit! I don't know how to kill a boarbatusk!" She wrapped her arms around him, burying her face in his chest. He couldn't stop his hand from cupping behind her head and pushing her closer to him.

"Well what do you know about Grimm? Armor wise."

"It's white and their non-armored hide is dark."

"There you go. You can figure it out from there." He let her go and walked back to Port's class.

* * *

"There you are! Where were you?" Blake looked at him with wide eyes, which was the equivalent of her hanging onto him with worry. Jaune shrugged and pointed at the front of the classroom where Weiss was preparing to fight the assumed boarbatusk. Pyrrha looked up curiously.

"What'd you tell her?"

"Nothing. I just helped her realize that she knew how to beat it." As he finished talking, Port opened the crate and, true to Pyrrha and Blake's guesses, a boarbatusk burst out of it and charged Weiss. Quickly, Weiss summoned a glyph in front of her and as the boarbatusk ran over the mark, it was launched up on a trajectory for the back wall. Before it hit, Weiss held up her left palm and barked a quick word, causing an icicle to shoot out and impale the creature to the roof, black blood dripping onto the desk of Professor Port. Blake and Pyrrha gazed at the creature of Grimm thoughtfully, as though they wanted to try their strategy, while Jaune's attention was focused on Weiss who was calmly listening to Port rave about her potential. She glanced at him and caught his smug expression and rolled her eyes before paying attention to Port again. He clapped her on the shoulder and sent her back to her seat.

"Well class, that was a remarkable display of skill. Homework, explain why and when boarbatusks are most dangerous in the field, due next class. Dismissed." As the rumbling in the classroom grew, Weiss joined Jaune, Blake and Pyrrha as they departed for their next class with a certain Professor Ooblek.

When they arrived, Weiss let out a groan of annoyance as she saw who was talking to Ooblek. The latino boy from before was in a heated discussion with the professor about dust and the difference between refined and nonrefined dust. At least that's what Weiss said when they asked her about the conversation that she was hanging onto. They sat down next to a blonde girl who Weiss seemed to know and seemed to actually kind of like named Annabelle, Jaune thought. Jaune wound up next to a dark haired boy who was watching the latino who was apparently Leon talk with the professor. Eventually Ooblek sent Leon back to his seat and started class.

"Hello and welcome to History of the Vale. I am Professor Ooblek and I will be your teacher for this semester..." As Ooblek droned on and on, Jaune felt his eyes closing as if weighed down by small lead weights. Beside him, the raven haired boy was in the same boat, being lulled into sleep by the lightning quick voice of Professor Ooblek.

He was suddenly woken by a sharp jab into his rib-cage and blearily looked up at the disapproving face of his partner. Next to him the blonde had woken the boy who had also fallen asleep with a sharp, "Percy!" Percy jolted awake, grasping at his pocket and when he didn't find what he was looking for, glanced up the the girl who was holding a golden pen. He groaned.

"What? I just sat down to a plate of my mom's cookies." Jaune noticed that Annabelle was trying to be annoyed but had a faint smile playing on her lips. Percy noticed and grinned.

"I see that smile, Wise Girl. You know you love me."

"Not enough to teach you a lesson. I'm partnering up with Weiss for this project. That leaves you with Lancelot here." Jaune looked up at his nickname. Weiss nodded when he silently asked if he was going to be with Percy. He groaned.

"What's the project then?" The Blonde laughed.

"No idea." Percy groaned.

"Fine. We'll ask Leon and Reyna." The two girls walked off as Jaune rubbed his eyes blearily with the palms of his hands. Percy shook his head and got up and returned with a pair of tanned teens, one of who was the hyperactive Leon from before. He was tinkering with something that was glowing with the color of ice dust, the pale blue reflecting off of the welding glasses he wore on his forehead. The girl behind him walked with something of a noble grace, her onyx eyes harder than stone that were fixed on Jaune with suspicion and a single braid over her left shoulder.

"Jaune, this is Leon," he gestured at the grinning boy who waved enthusiastically, "and this is Reyna. You guys, this is Jaune. He's a good guy so stop with the glaring, Rey." Reyna glared at Percy.

"Don't call me that kelp head." Leon grinned and wrapped arm around the girl.

"Yeah, only I can call her that." Reyna rolled her eyes but had the ghost of a grin on her face. She elbowed Leon, earning a whiny "Queenie!"

"What do you need help with guys?"

"Everything." They sighed in false disappointment.

* * *

Leon and Reyna turned out to be an amazing help. They had already almost completed the project due to Reyna's great memory and the sheer speed that Leon could do _everything_, so they were able to help Percy and Jaune finish quickly and when they turned the completed assignment into Ooblek, the professor dismissed them and they chuckled at Weiss and Annabelle who was actually Annabeth who were still working on there project, earning a few dirty looks from the pair of girls. Leon called her that, much to her chagrin, so Jaune was under the incorrect impression that she _was_ named Annabelle.

Jaune noticed that Blake and Pyrrha were no longer in the classroom, so he sent a quick text to Blake asking her to meet him in the forest that they first met in. She replied, asking him to meet her on the roof and directions on how to get there. He excused himself from the three people with him and went up to the roof, climbing to the highest level of the level and hopping out a window that was roof level and following the roof to were Blake was. He tried to sneak up on her but she turned around and fixed him with her angry stare. He stopped sneaking around and walked up to her, opening his mouth to utter a greeting but she beat him to the punch.

"Why didn't you mention that you were offered an army position? You didn't even have to come here!" Jaune gestured at the roof, asking her to sit with him as he sat down. To his surprise, Blake joined him.

"Because it was my- _our_ dream to go to Beacon. I didn't want to give that up."

"Why?"

"Do you even need to ask that question, Blake? We both know the answer and I know for a fact that you would've done the same for me if our positions were reversed."

"I-I need to hear it." Jaune smiled gently and brought Blake into a one armed hug.

"Because we have always been there for each other, because I trust you more than anything, anyone or even myself, because we've done everything with each other and I want to keep it that way. But more than anything it's because I love you." He looked over at the faunus who had tears in her eyes and pulled her into a tight hug.

"I love you too, Jaune." They sat there for awhile, happy as they looked over the school that was awash with the auburn colors of the sunset. Blake picked her head up from his shoulder and pecked him on the cheek. He smiled back at her.

"Jaune?"

"Hmm?"

"I-i'm going into heat in the next month." Their cheeks flushed deeply.

"Y-yeah?"

"And I... want you to, y'know, help me with it?" Blake couldn't take it, she cast her gaze down to the roof top. Jaune lifted her chin gently and kissed her on the lips. She could taste the orange candies that he used as mints on his lips. She smiled from the familiarity. He drew any and pressed his lips against her forehead and took her head in her hands, looking to her eyes.

"Of course Blake. I mean, it's not like we are new to this." She bit her lip.

"But we're going to be in the dorm. Weiss and Yang might hear us and then they'd be really mad." Blake knew that Jaune had something with both of them. She could tell, the way their gaze lingered on him when he was not paying attention. It was similar to how she looked at him and she knew it.

"We can get a hotel room in Vale. It's not exactly prime tourist season right now or in a month, so we could get a nice room and do that jazz there. Probably during a weekend, so we don't have to get up early." Blake nodded. The last time they did it, they had school the next day and they were super late and had somehow played it off as a late-night movie marathon.

"Penthouse? With a view?" Blake smiled up at him and he grinned back.

"There's my kitty cat. And of course. The scholarship from the academy left me with quite a bit of cash of my own since I didn't pay a cent, so I could easily pull the Queen's Suite in the Turbinsky."

"You better deliver, it's rude to get a woman's hopes up and not deliver."

"Then I'll make reservations for each weekend next month when we get down."

"Speaking of that, should we?"

"Nah. Let's skip lunch. And Battle Tactics."

"We should still go to Battle Tactics, we need to get our preliminary rankings."

"Stop making sense."

Their laughter echoed across the rooftop.


	5. Of Fires and Forges

**So. Here it is. The first lemon of the story. But there's a bit of fluff too, but I promised it and I delivered, though it took me a long ass time. Fun fact: I had all of this chapter written for at least a month up till the lemon which took a long time to get motivated to write. In response to those who were confused about who Jaune wants... He has no idea. I don't either, even though my OTP for the RWBY universe is in this story. So now it's entirely up in the air. So, yeah. Sorry for the wait and if any of you want to submit ideas, I tried to add a bit to this chapter and I have no idea how to proceed, so send them in. If I use your idea, I'll give you credit for it! Anyways, here you go. Don't forget to follow if you liked it and favorite if you really liked it!**

**Thanks for reading,**

**Court  
**

* * *

Dust hurt. If handled without any protective gloves or goggles, it would burn your fingers and eyeballs and often would result in a long stay in the eye cleaning station that most pre-combat schools had in their science rooms. Jaune was glad that he had his sunglasses and leather gloves for just that reason. However, these practical accessories didn't help against the intense punches received from his feisty teammate. He had resorted to the small dagger that he had concealed along his thigh since in this close of a fight, Crocea Mors was virtually useless.

His shield was getting seriously stressed from the repetitive hits from Yang's gauntlets and, taking advantage of the two second interval between Yang's punches, he flared his aura, causing his shield to morph into a large fist that completely encased his left hand. Yang faltered briefly and threw a punch, allowing Jaune to match, their fists colliding. For a second, nothing moved. Firing the rest of the shells in her gauntlets, Yang overpowered the already beaten shield, causing it to splinter. Jaune was stunned for a second, wish allowed Yang to deliver a knockout punch directly to his chest. With an almighty bang, Jaune was shot back into the wall. For a second, the entire class was silent. In tandem, Weiss and Blake stood up while Yang jogged over to the battered knight.

"I swear to god Yang if you broke my part-" Blake silenced Weiss with a hand on her shoulder and looked up at Yang who was crouching in front of the knight.

Yang was looking at the knight, whose eyes were hidden behind his long bangs. She reached out to brush his hair out of his face when he reached up and stopped her hand by gently grabbing her wrist. With a shake of his head, he looked up into her eyes with a spark of amusement in his ocean blue eyes. He could hear Weiss' in her heels as she walked toward him. He assumed that Blake was with her. Refocusing on the blonde in front of him, he grinned.

"You're packing a bigger punch there then I remember, Dragonfire." Yang grinned and pulled him up, crushing him with a hug. He noticed Weiss and Blake walking up and gently extracted himself from Yang's grasp though he left an arm around her shoulder while hers lingered on his waist. Before Weiss could speak up, he cut her off.

"I am, surprisingly, fine." Weiss scoffed and Blake rolled her eyes. Weiss pointed at his chest.

"That's 'fine'?" Jaune looked down at his armor. There was a large impression of a fist in the metal that was slightly scorched around the outside of the impression. Yang giggled nervously.

"Oops."

* * *

"Hammer."

"Here you are."

The sound of pounding metal rang through the forge as Jaune pounded out the large dent in his breast plate. Yang had offered to help since she had experience with making her own weapons at Signal and Jaune only did minor repairs on Crocea Mors since it was an heirloom. Plus, it was her fault so she felt she needed to make it up to him. The ringing on the anvil suddenly came to an end as Jaune finished the repair on his breast plate.

"Pliers."

"Here." Jaune picked up the cherry red metal and dunked it in the bucket of ice water, causing the water to boil with a hiss and a cloud of steam billowed past the boy's face, causing him to wince in discomfort. He removed the breastplate and dropped it on the anvil, allowing it to cool. With a sigh, Jaune pulled the blacksmithing goggles off and turning around, he put them on the table where they were found. He did the same with the leather gloves that he borrowed and before he turned back around, Leon walked in with something that looked like an end table. His eyes brightened considerably when he recognized Jaune.

"Hey! It's Jaune!" He exclaimed to no one in particular. "And... other blondie!" He obviously didn't know Yang. Jaune grinned in response.

"Leon! How's it going?"

"I am feeling hot! Gonna finish Buford! What brings you down to the lonely forges with..." Yang chuckled in response.

"I'm Yang. If anything, Vomit Boy here is 'other blondie'." She pounded on Jaune's back. The boy laughed again and Jaune rolled his eyes.

"I'm repairing my breastplate and forging a new shield. They got all fucked up thanks to this one." He jabbed a thumb at Yang behind him, causing her to stick her tongue out at him. Leon's eyes were alight with interest.

"Oooh. Could I take a look? Forging is kinda my thang. And Reyna." He grinned cheekily as he picked up Jaune's armor. For the first time Jaune had ever seen, Leon went completely serious as he examined the piece. He set it down and looked critically at Jaune.

"This is- to be completely frank -absolute shite. The metal would break with any force over ten newtons. I'd estimate the original hit was... oh something like 100 newtons or so? I'll take care of this and the shield. I'm guessing you want it to be able to mecha-shift right?" Jaune was completely floored by the generosity.

"I... uh wow, yeah. I was thinking a bow or crossbow that fires standard dust rounds? Wait, the type Weiss uses. That way we have no problems with ammo. I'll message her and ask." Jaune pulled out his scroll and began typing only to be stopped by a thoughtful Leon.

"She's got Myrtenaster, right?" Jaune nodded. "She uses a .357 caliber bullet with a 100 dust grain."

"How'd you know that?"

"Who do you think made Myrtenaster? Moi, yours and truly. I'll design and build the shield so it can mecha-shift into a crossbow and optimize it for the same dust grainage." With that he waved the two blondes away and began muttering about design ideas as Jaune shouted his thanks back at him.

* * *

When they arrived back at the room, they bumped into Weiss and Blake who were headed off to the library. Weiss said something about the project that Ooblek assigned them and that she had to meet Annabeth while Blake was looking for some new reading material, so Jaune and Yang waved their partners off and got started on the assignment for Port.

Half an hour later, Jaune was finished and Yang was just about done when there was a sharp knock on their door. Jaune walked over and opened the door, revealing an extremely proud looking Leon who was flanked by a girl who was bantering with him. In his hands, he held the armor that he repaired and the new shield, currently in sheath form. He held them out, grinning.

"Definitely some of my best work. Far surpassing Myrtenaster, but don't tell Ice Queen, okay? I've got touch-ups for days what with my team and Reyna's. Last thing I need is an annoyed heiress on my case. Oh, have you meet the rest of our two teams? This is Piper, she's my partner. Us and Percy and Annabelle make up Team APPL (Apple). Our room is just down the hall with RFHJ (Refuge) across the hall. Yo-" Piper rolled her eyes and punched him on the shoulder.

"Leo!"

"Hmm?"

"Rambling."

"Oh. Sorry." Piper patted his shoulder.

"We should check on Percy, he's bored without Annabeth. Nice to meet you... I never actually got your names. Way to go Repair Boy." Leo rolled his eyes.

"Fine. This is Jaune and Yang, Jaune and Yang, this is Piper. Happy, Beauty Queen?" Piper chuckled and pushed him out of the way and shook both of their hands

"Nice to meet you. Now we've got to get back to Percy before he floods our room or something like that. See you tomorrow!" With those parting words, Piper dragged Leon behind her back to their room as he waved cheerfully back at them.

"Well that was a thing." Yang had raised an eyebrow at the pair who had stopped in front of what they assumed was their door. With a final wave, the two disappeared from their view.

"I've got to finish Port's assignment." Jaune raised his eyebrow at the blonde who was already getting started on her work. After a second, she looked back at him.

"What? I can be responsible. Shut up." Jaune started laughing at the annoyed girl who just huffed and put the finishing touches on her work.

"What's up with you? I used to have to lock you in your room to get you to do your homework." She averted her eyes and jumped onto her bed.

"Nothing is different. It's just that you have Weiss and Blake to keep you occupied so, I thought that I should work on doing stuff myself." She didn't quite meet Jaune's gaze when he looked at her, so he walked over to the bashful girl and sat next to on her bed.

"Hey, I can still pay attention to you. You're still one of my best friends, of course I can still notice you. Now let's go do something." He grabbed her hand and tugged her off of her bed, causing her to grin and laugh.

"C'mon!"

* * *

Yang and Jaune were walking in the forest outside of Beacon, holding steaming cups of hot chocolate and laughing about the multitude of awkward situations that Jaune had at Signal, other than the bus incident.

"And then you tripped!" Yang was snickering at Jaune's misfortune during his first spar with her as he walked along, rolling his eyes. Yang punched him lightly on the arm, earning a playful glare from her friend.

"Oh and there was that time when-" Jaune grabbed her and pushed up against a tree, their paper cups falling to the ground and spilling without a second thought. Jaune caught her gaze and exhaled.

"Shut up, Dragonfire." Yang moved her hands to his butt and squeezed.

"Oh yeah? What are you going to do about it?" Jaune moaned and nipped her on the neck, causing Yang to catch her breath.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Yang grabbed him by the lapels and pushed his jacket off impatiently, smashing her lips against his. She pulled his shirt open, the buttons scattering from the force from the firebrand and bouncing along the path. He grunted in annoyance, he'd have to buy another shirt. Her hungry eyes focused on his chest as she ran her fingers along his stomach, earning a hiss from the boy.

"I've got a feeling that I already know." They locked eyes, a mutual agreement passing between them as their eyes clouded over with lust. Without a second thought, Yang pulled out Jaune's wallet and removed the condom that he kept in the back pocket of the main compartment as he found her heat with his right hand, fumbling with his belt with his left. Yang started laughing at Jaune's struggles with his belt as she moaned from his touch, producing a breathy chuckle from the girl.

He felt Yang slip the condom on his freed length and responded with slipping his hand within her panties and pressing down hard on her heated clit. Her eyes closed as she bit hard on his shoulder, eliciting a gasp from the boy. Her hand was now firmly grasped on him, pulling towards her and with a quick movement, Jaune thrust into her with a moan of pleasure from both of them. Yang wrapped her legs around his waist, her arms wrapping around his neck as they met in a kiss once again. She felt Jaune unbuttoning her shirt, letting it hang open as his left hand snaked around her back and deftly unlatched her bra, causing the strapless garment to fall to the ground. His fingers found her diamond hard nipples as he pushed her against the tree, pounding relentlessly, causing her to roughly bite his collarbone. She felt his lips press against her hair as she felt the ecstasy building within her.

"Y-Yang, I..." Jaune broke the silence of moans of pleasure with a gruff warning which Yang breathily replied to, urging him on. She gasped as she released, the fluid coating their already soaked connection. Moments later, he moaned and came. She could feel the contained hotness within her as Jaune set her down in the clearing and laying with her on the comfortable moss that covered the ground, the two of them still connected. After laying there for what seemed like an eternity, Jaune cupped her cheek and kissed her sweetly. He pulled away and smiled at her. She smiled back, it was contagious. He finally removed himself from her and sighed in contentness.

"We should do that again." Yang couldn't help but agree.


	6. Arrivals

**Hello again! **

**It's really been awhile, but I am still slowly working on this. I would usually talk about how my life has been and give excuses for taking so long, but I don't believe that this is the time for this. And I'm going to keep this short.**

**I was floored when I learned of Monty's passing and I wish his family and the entirety of Rooster Teeth the best in these troubling times.**

**But this is not only a time for mourning his passing, but for celebrating his life. Monty has made such a difference in my life, despite never having met him, through RWBY and I can guarantee that no matter how RWBY is affected by this, I will remain in the fandom to celebrate Monty's dream and brain child that has made my life so much better. **

**With that, I will leave you to the story.**

**If you enjoyed and are not already following, be sure to!**

**Thanks for reading,**

**Court**

* * *

Jaune blearily opened his eyes to the usual bustle of his teammates preparing for the day. Weiss was putting her hair in it's usual offset ponytail, Blake was fixing her bow in the mirror above Weiss while Yang was playing the console that she had hooked up to the large TV on their wall. He sat on the side of the bed and mumbled a slight greeting to the girls, sliding off and stumbling to the bathroom.

He hit his pinky toe on the doorframe, resulting in a yelp and a few amused chuckles from Yang. He flipped her off, only causing her to laugh harder and closed the door.

He jumped into the shower, letting the warm water wash over him as he lathered his hair with his shampoo. The door opened, revealing Weiss, who quickly apologized and went to brush her teeth. Jaune was glad that the shower glass was frosted, with the many times that he caught her eyes flicker towards him, occasionally catching his eyes with a stubborn glance. After what was probably much longer than it should've taken her to brush her teeth, someone tapped on the door and Blake's voice informed them that she and Yang would see them at breakfast. Both of them responded with an affirmative and Jaune shut off the shower and dried off with the strategically hung towel on the side of the shower. He stepped out of the shower hesitantly, not sure why his partner was still lingering in the bathroom.

"I'm going to get dressed." He warned her, jabbing his thumb towards the door.

She nodded, ghosting her eyes over his chest with a slight blush. He stepped out and slipped on his clothes as quickly as possible, knocking once on the door when he was done.

They'd done this before and that was the teamwide sign that said 'I'm not naked.' Yang didn't use it and Jaune had walked in on her several times since they did the do in the forest. He had not really known what to do apart from stutter and back out of the room which was usually met with friendly teasing about how they'd 'fucked each others' brains out' and that he couldn't look at her without blushing even when she was wearing her undershirt. He defended himself by saying that she rarely wore a bra with them. Weiss backed him up, having just gotten back from her semi-weekly study session with Annabeth, Reyna and Hazel with Blake.

The opening of the bathroom door shook him from his thoughts as Weiss walked over to him. He quickly stood up as she reached him. She grabbed his neck and kissed him soundly, resulting in a brief muffled shout of surprise from the knight before his hands found their natural resting place on her waist, squeezing hard enough to cause her to gasp and invade her mouth with his tongue. He enjoyed the control for about three seconds before his foot was roughly crushed by hers and in the pain, she invaded his.

Before they could get much farther, Weiss' phone went off, signaling twenty minutes from classes. They disentangled themselves reluctantly and walked down to the cafeteria.

They were greeted by a rather joyful group of teammates since they had returned from Forever Fall the day before and were given the day off to relax. They and RNPR had elected to head into Vale without the companionship of APPL or RFHJ since they were going to Forever Fall today. He sat down next to Pyrrha, the other team leader, and they started discussing the drawbacks that Professor Peach had written up after their brief encounter with an Ursa Major.

"So Peach mentioned that I tend to shoulder most of the burden when fighting, what would you say about that?" Jaune considered her question, wanting to confirm what Professor Peach said without being too blunt or rude about it. Pyrrha noticed his pause and rolled her eyes. "Just give it to me straight Jaune."

Unfortunately for them, Yang overheard that comment.

"Oh, trust me Golden Girl. He's _very _good at giving it to you straight. Trust me." Pyrrha's face went as red as her hair as Jaune rolled his eyes at his teammate.

"Y'know Ruby was right behind you, right?" Yang paled and turned around to see Ruby chatting with Nora about the various weapon stores that they were planning on going to while in Vale. Yang let out an audible sigh and focused a glare at her leader. He raised his eyebrow at her.

"Discretion." Yang flipped him off again and he chuckled while Pyrrha looked on in confusion.

* * *

"Why does it always smell like fish here?" Weiss wrinkled her nose.

"Because we are at the harbor?" Yang looked at her wryly. "Follow up question: Why are we at the harbor? Especially if it always smells like fish. Even Blake wouldn't like this that much. Good thing she and Jaune are at the bookstore."

"Since the participants from Vacuo are most likely going to be arriving by boat, I thought that we ought to welcome them and be welcoming hosts." Yang crossed her arms and leaned against the railing, while the heiress squirmed under her gaze.

"If it wasn't for the fact that you're just as head over heels for Jaune as I am, I'd accuse you of wanting to encounter, sorry 'welcome' the cute boys that were coming to the festival. Now I just think that you're weirdly obsessed with social protocols." Weiss huffed.

"Now that you brought it up, what are we going to do about this? All three of us are clearly interested in him..." Yang shrugged, not exactly seeing the problem.

"Well..." Yang was torn. She didn't really know when she figured it out, but sometime recently, she realized that she was bisexual and Jaune wasn't the only person on her team that got her hot and bothered. Yang was completely fine with the fact that she was bi, but the concerning thing for her was the fact that her entire team got her in the mood. She'd had many sleepless nights where she'd laid awake and had to fight an urge to climb into one of the other's bed and have her way with them.

"Yang? You okay? You're getting red." Yang jumped and started hyperventilating. Weiss was close, very close. Close enough that she could reach out and grab the smaller girl and kiss her.

And she really wanted to.

So naturally, she ran away.

* * *

Jaune and Blake were holed up in the back corner of the bookstore, a quaint joint that Blake often visited since she was good friends with the owner, Tukson. Blake had claimed the bean bag and had propped her feet on Jaune's lap, reading a novel that she was looking into as he was nestled in the oversized armchair across from the bean bag, tapping away on his phone. He ghosted his fingers along her bare foot on his lap, causing her to flinch slightly and suppress a giggle. Her amber eyes looked up and caught his.

"Hmm?"

"I've booked the Queen's suite at The Turbinsky for the next three weekends. Do you have a better idea as to when we will need it?" Blake gave a slight smile at her friend's thoughtfulness that quickly turned into a small frown.

"No, sadly. It is hard to predict my heat, but it will become very obvious when it shows up." Jaune chuckled at how he remembered the first time she went into heat. His room was the weirdest smell for the longest time. His sisters eventually asked him if he was keeping a dead raccoon in his room, before Blake and his oldest sister, who was also Faunus explained to him what was happening. He remembered how he had stood there comatose for about an hour and chuckled lightly. Blake kicked him, glaring at him for laughing at her discomfort.

"Hey! I was remembering when you and Violet explained to me was going on your first time. I'm laughing at myself." Blake smiled and rolled her eyes. She remembered.

She had just opened up her mouth to speak when Jaune's phone went off. He checked it quickly, his face morphing into a concerned mask as he read.

"Yang's at Junior's. She wants to talk to me about something."

"You should go. This sounds rather personal. I wish I could help, I've known her as long as you."

"Yeah, well you never want to anger the dragon. Could you pick this up for me?" He held out a book with enough lien to pay for it.

_Sherlock Holmes_.

Blake smiled, but it faltered.

"Jaune?" He paused as he was buttoning his jacket.

"Yeah?"

"Did you and Yang hook up?"

"I, uh, I mean-"

"So yes?" He nodded mutely.

"Are you jealous?"

It was Blake's turn to be flustered.

"I- I feel like it, but it's more than before? I don't know. Go talk to Yang, I'll see you at Beacon." She hugged him briefly, then waved him off.

She was confused.

* * *

When Jaune walked into the club, he felt the beat seeping into his bones.

Frankly, he was surprised. He assumed that Yang would try to break everything.

She had done it before.

Many times.

He wove his way through the dancing crowd, towards the bar where he saw the familiar mane of golden hair that was Yang's. He bumped into someone and apologized, patting the man on the back. When he finally struggled through the throng of people, Yang was slumping on the bar, sipping on a scotch while ignoring a few guys who were posted up on either side of her.

Jaune rolled his eyes.

"Yang!" She straightened up and turned to the sound. Her face relaxed considerably when she saw him.

"Jaune!" She walked up to him and hugged him fiercely. She grabbed his hand and dragged him towards the floor, asking a silent question. He obliged.

After a few songs, they returned to the bar. Jaune ordered a virgin cuba libre, while Yang picked up the scotch that she had left there. Jaune opened his mouth to intervene, but before he could speak, she downed it.

"Thanks for coming." Yang looked subdued, quite different than usual.

"Of course, what's up?"

"C-could we talk about it at Beacon? It's weird, I don't know." Jaune cocked an eyebrow in concern, but she shook her head and got up, and grabbed his hand, guiding him towards the exit. They walked out onto the street and made their way back to the airship depot. As they walked, Yang seemed to be becoming more and more sluggish and leaned more and more on him as they walked along.

By the time they arrived at the depot, Jaune was virtually carrying her.

"Jaune! Yang!"

"Are you guys okay?"

* * *

**Earlier-**

Weiss' scroll beeped and she read the message from Blake, _Yang texted Jaune, she's meeting him at a bar that she once trashed and now has unlimited free drinks at, you still at the harbor?_

Weiss replied, _Yeah?_

_I'll meet you there._

_K_

Ten minutes later, Blake strolled up to the heiress.

"Hey."

"Hello, how are you?"

"Alright. Worried about Yang."

"Yeah it was weird, she was looking at me and getting red. I just mentioned that all three of us were interested in Jaune and that made things complicated." Blake didn't really know how to respond to that.

"Well, do you think that it's just Jaune for her? It's not for me."

"What do you mean?"

"I-I'm pansexual. I can be attracted to anybody, regardless of gender. Maybe, Yang's like that. Or bi."

"Oh." Weiss' brow furrowed with confusion. This wasn't covered in her tutoring."What is that?"

Blake was floored.

"It's hard to explain-"

"What's hard to explain?" The two girls were so deep in conversation, they didn't notice the cruiseship dock and crowd of people disembark, and a blonde monkey faunus and a suave looking blue-haired guy walk up.

They jumped and reacted like they were trained to.

Seconds later, both boys were flat on the ground, staring down the length of the weapons of the girls.

"WOAH, WOAH, WOAH. We come in peace. I'm Sun, that's Neptune." The monkey faunus yelled from the ground, jabbing his thumb at his friend who weakly wove back, his eyes fixed on the point of Weiss' rapier that was about half an inch from his nose. The girls exchanged looks and warily lowered their weapons, still eying the boys with mistrust.

"What a welcoming committee. Can we at least get the names of the two girls who almost killed us for the first time today?" Neptune stood up, brushing off the nonexistent dirt on his clothes. Weiss glared at him.

"I'm Blake, this is Weiss." Sun pulled out a banana out of nowhere and peeled it deftly. He spoke with a full mouth, causing Weiss to scrunch her nose in disgust.

"We're supposed to report to Beacon. Do guys happen to go there?" Blake just rolled her eyes at Sun's lack of manners.

"Sure. We were just heading back now, so you can tag along." They turned away and started walking in sync. Blake could hear the boys muttering behind them.

"Dude, what's going on?"

"I don't know, usually they're easier to flirt with. We should follow them, they are leading us to Beacon."

"Okay."

Blake heard the two jog to catch up and looked at Weiss. From her expression, she heard their discussion too. The boys appeared flanking them, Sun on Blake's side and Neptune on Weiss'. As Neptune tried to engage the frigid heiress in a conversation, Sun started talking with her.

"So, you never answered my question earlier."

"Hmm?"

"What's hard to explain."

"It's personal."

"You can tell me if you want."

"Well I don't want to. That's what my team is for."

"Who's in your team?"

"Weiss and myself, and my childhood friends, Yang and Jaune."

They had arrived at the airship depot, where Blake and Weiss sat down on a small, uncomfortable bench and Sun and Neptune hovered in front of them awkwardly. Weiss pulled her phone out to text Jaune that they were at the depot while Blake pulled up a game on hers. The two boys seemed to give up and go sit down on a similar bench as to the one that Blake and Weiss had claimed.

A few minutes later, an awkwardly walking pair staggered into their sight line.

"Is that...?" Weiss murmured at the approaching people.

"I think so." Blake jumped up and walked over to her leader who was awkwardly supporting her partner, Weiss following close at her heels.

"Jaune! Yang!"

"Are you guys okay?"

They jogged to get to the pair sooner and Blake took the Yang's other arm and draped it over her shoulder as Yang mumbled something about kittens. forthe first time, Jaune spoke.

"We should get her to the dorm. I think she got roofied."

"WHAT?"

"How?"

"We went off to dance and she left her scotch on the bar and a bunch of guys were hanging around her, so I think one of them slipped something into her drink. I tried to warn her but she shotgunned it really quick, before I could mention it."

"Were you drinking?"

"No, I had a Coke."

"Well that's good."

"We should get back. I don't think Ozpin would really appreciate the fact that she was drinking."

"Yeah. Let's go." Blake and Jaune helped Yang onto the airship that had just docked, while Weiss rummaged in her bag for something. She felt a tap on her arm and turned to Neptune who she had completely forgotten about.

"Two things. First, is this the ship to Beacon? Second, what's happening? It seems like this kind of stuff is common." Weiss considered this statement for a second, while her teammates sat down on either side of Yang to prevent her from falling over onto the seat.

"Well, when it comes to being on our team, then yes. It's very common. Well, not Yang getting roofied, but other weird things." She turned away from the boy who had been relentlessly flirting with her and went to sit next to her partner and opened his hand to put the air sickness medicine into it. He smiled at her and popped it into his mouth and swallowed the pills dry. He gave her a quick one armed hug and she leaned into it.

"Will she be okay?"

"Yeah, she just needs to rest. Blake said that she would take care of her, so we should go and do something, so we don't disturb them. Would you like to?" Weiss smiled at him.

"Yes. That would be delightful. What should we do?" Jaune winked at her.

"That's up to you."

Someone across the aisle cleared his throat, causing them to look up at the person that Weiss recognized as Neptune with Sun sitting next to him. Jaune smiled, causing the boy's disgruntled face to lighten significantly.

"Oh, hello. I haven't seen you around before, who are you?" Weiss spoke before either of them could.

"Jaune, this is Sun, the monkey faunus, and Neptune, the blue haired guy." Neptune spluttered.

"Blue haired guy?" Jaune ignored his outburst.

"Hello. Oh! Are you two visitors for the Festival?" Sun spoke up.

"Yep. We are supposed to meet with Ozpin, so before you too go off on your, whatever, could you show us to his office? We'd really appreciate it."

"Sure," He tapped Blake on the shoulder, "Hey, do you think you'd be okay to get Yang back yourself? We're going to show these guys to Ozpin's office." Blake nodded in confirmation.

"Sure. If I need help, I'll call Pyrrha or Ren. They could help if needed."

"Great. Thank you."

* * *

They dropped Sun and Neptune off at Ozpin's office, where Neptune gave a quick thank you and went in, while Sun lingered.

"Hey, I wanted to apologize for Neptune. He generally doesn't get rejected when he flirts but you shut him down. He's a good person and all that jazz, but he can get sour." He addressed Jaune, who rose his eyebrows.

"I'm not the one he got shot down by. That'd be my partner." He gestured at Weiss who had her arms crossed in indifference.

"I'm sure he is, but it still annoyed me, especially after I clearly indicated that I wasn't interested." Sun chuckled.

"Yeah, who would be? Especially if this guy was your partner. Anyways, I just didn't want to start off on the wrong foot. I look forward to working with you guys." With that, he bowed out and went followed his teammate.

"What did he mean by that? 'If this guy was your partner.' What?" Weiss rolled her eyes at her partner. He was somehow juggling romantic relationships with all of his teammates and all of them knew about the other relationships but he was still dumber than a bag of bricks at time.

"Come on, Lancelot. Let's get some hot cocoa."


End file.
